US pastor faces terror charges in fraught trial in Turkey

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY and MEHMET GUZEL

IZMIR, Turkey (AP) — An American pastor imprisoned in Turkey is going on trial for alleged terror ties and spying in a case that has increased tensions between Washington and Ankara.

Andrew Craig Brunson, a 50-year-old evangelical pastor from North Carolina, is facing up to 35 years in prison on charges of “committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member” and “espionage.” The trial begins Monday in western Izmir province.

Brunson was arrested in December 2016 for alleged links to both an outlawed Kurdish insurgent group and the network of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric who Turkey blames for a masterminding a failed military coup that year. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, denies the claim.

Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for 23 years, has denied all allegations, saying that he solely worked as a pastor.

Well, I know if he was a Muslim cleric, he would automatically be labeled as a terrorists off the bat and on top of that it would end up dishing out lots of dirt and mud on Islam just so media can make some money. But since he’s a pastor we hear about it in 2018 when the incident took place in 2016. Now that’s News with discrimination